The Emerald editorial board is very disheartened to hear that the Willamette Science & Technology Center chose to close its doors in response to the Eugene City Council’s decision regarding expansion plans for Autzen Stadium.
For those unfamiliar with the issue, suffice to say that after a tangled series of agreements between the University, the city and WISTEC, the City Council’s decision allowed the University to build a bus transit station on a parking lot that WISTEC used to raise much-needed funds. (For further elaboration of the issue, search our online archives, at http://dailyemerald.com, for recent stories about WISTEC.)
WISTEC is a wonderful science education museum — the only one of its kind in the area — that serves thousands of 3 to 10-year-olds every year. Getting kids interested in science early in life is fantastic. By the same token, the University and the community stand to benefit by expanding Autzen Stadium and reducing traffic congestion during Duck home games with the bus station.
Our disappointment comes from two sources. First, there were other options for building a bus station to serve Autzen Stadium that would not have displaced the lot used by WISTEC. The University claimed those options wouldn’t work, but they should have tried harder, and the City Council could have done much more to make other options work. WISTEC is a tiny non-profit group struggling to provide educational services to Eugene’s children, and the University is a regional powerhouse, with ample resources to find a way to coexist with WISTEC.
Most of our frustration, however, is with WISTEC, for choosing to close down rather than find other ways to meet its financial needs. The University offered more than $200,000 over the next six years to cover WISTEC’s operating deficit from the loss of the parking lot. We don’t think that offer was the only, or perhaps even the best, solution. But WISTEC officials claimed that figure wasn’t enough to support their long-term needs.
However, six years is plenty of time for a non-profit agency to find alternate sources of funding. And it should be mentioned that the amount of money WISTEC needs to cover the loss of the parking lot is only $26,000 per year. We believe WISTEC when it says it has tried to raise money in other ways, but we don’t believe that it is impossible to raise $26,000 per year in private donations and grants, or in state and federal grants.
WISTEC’s cause is noble and right. The community in Eugene supports what WISTEC does. The museum should not have turned its back on the community in the same way that the City Council turned its back on WISTEC. Tit for tat doesn’t serve kids.
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses can be sent to [email protected].